Islam and Environment

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

The Prophet of Islam laid great emphasis on conserving water. He once
observed someone using water extravagantly and advised him to be very cautious
in its use. The person in question asked if we needed to be meticulous even
while using water. The Prophet replied: “Yes, do not waste water, even if you
are on the banks of a flowing river.” There are many verses in the Quran that
make such references to water....

Marwa Hamid

The Prophet
also declared an area of 12-miles in distance from the centre of Medina as
Haram (forbidden by religion) and also prohibited the cutting of trees and the
killing of animals within its borders. 1400 years later, our planet is paying a
huge toll due to the shift in lifestyles, overconsumption and unsustainable
practices and we are desperately in need to implement the Prophets (PBUH)
ecological Sunnah so we can protect our planet and conserve its resources for
the next generation....

Belinda F. Espiritu

Belinda F. Espiritu

A cosmic
optimism is at the heart of both Islam and Christianity. This is a yearning for
Paradise, the perfect world God originally designed and intended to be our
home, but which was lost in the horrible tragedy of the fall. Because God has
not given us any desires that do not have a fulfilment, this yearning for
Paradise will be fulfilled in a future, renewed “new heaven and earth” where
nature will be restored to its former glory.....

Femi Abbas

The Allah’s
last revelation to mankind called the Qur’an is the ultimate cornerstone which
the ignorant ones continue to subject to undue controversy in the building of
their ultimate homes. This Book is like the beaming Sun the existence of which
some blind people continue to query. Whether they see it or not, the Sun
remains scorching in its effect and magnanimous in its photosynthesis. Yet, the
denial of its existence cannot stop the blindness in the blind....

Naser Haghamed

Naser Haghamed

Climate action
is also overwhelmingly a matter of living one's Muslim faith, with its emphasis
on charity, protection of human life and care for this Earth, a gift from
Allah. The Quran makes our responsibility to the Earth and each other clear
when it states "And it is He who has made you successors upon the
earth", and that "Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of good to
others."....

Nadia Kadry

The natural
world is a fundamental part of Islam; the whole of earth has been created a
place of worship for us and the Qur’an glorifies nature and wildlife
frequently. The Qur’an tells us that we were appointed as stewards on Earth,
and thus have a duty to protect our planet, Allah’s creation, from
environmental degradation. This includes protecting against the mass
deforestation that the meat industry requires and thus protecting the habitats
of much wildlife....

Carol Kuruvilla

Carol Kuruvilla

....she sees a
very clear connection between the gathering at Sacred Stone and the teachings
of Islam ― in the way Prophet Muhammad treated animals to treat animals and talked
about consumption. She referred to a hadith, a recorded saying of the Prophet,
in which Muhammad said that if someone has in his hand a sapling, they should
plant it ― even if it was Resurrection Day and the world as we know it was
coming to an end...

Muntadhir Abbas

“Until when they came to the Valley of Ants, an ant said: ‘O you ants!
Get into your habitations, so that Solomon and his hosts may not crush you,
being unaware’.” What intrigues me about this verse was the fact that God
describes a command literally by an ant to the rest of the colony. ..

Muntadhir Abbas

“And your Lord inspired the bee, saying: “Take you habitations in the
mountains and in the trees and in what they erect. Then, eat of all fruits, and
follow the ways of your Lord made easy (for you).” There comes forth from their
bellies, a drink of varying colour wherein is healing for men. Verily, in this
is indeed a sign for people who think.”..

Belinda F. Espiritu, New Age Islam

Belinda F. Espiritu, New Age Islam

He goes to explain that because God has not given us any desires that do
not have a fulfilment, this yearning for Paradise will be fulfilled in a
future, renewed “new heaven and earth” where nature will be restored to its
former glory. In the perfect world of Paradise, there will be no pollution of
any kind. “Calamities will cease to occur, and all disadvantages such as
disease, accidents, old age and death will be eradicated forever”.....

Robert J. Burrowes, New Age Islam

Robert J. Burrowes, New Age Islam

In an extensive academic study that was recently concluded, the more than 150 joint authors of the report advised that 'most of the world's >40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened'. See 'Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species'.

Jan-e-Alam Khaki

Iqbal views the purpose of the creation of the world as ‘uncovering’ (uryani) or ‘unfolding’. He says: “Ye dunya da’wat-i-deedar hai farzand-i-Aadam ko/ ke har mastoor ko bakhsha gaya hay zauq-i-uryani” (this universe is meant for viewing for the offspring of Adam; each covered being has been given the desire to be uncovered so that others may see it.

Robert J. Burrowes, New Age Islam

Robert J. Burrowes, New Age Islam

If this sounds
unrealistic, the strategy I have described above is Gandhi's. Gandhi never
asked anyone to do anything he wasn't already doing himself. And by a century
ago, his personal consumption was pitifully modest, even by Indian standards of
his day, and he was highly self-reliant, exemplified by his daily spinning of Khadi
to make his own clothing. If he could dramatically reduce his personal
consumption and develop his self-reliance 100 years ago, how much can you do
today?....

Mustazah Bahari

Mustazah Bahari

This understanding of jihad represents the wasatiyah (moderate) vision of Islam. Thus, efforts to promote wasatiyah should go hand-in-hand with the efforts to counter the current problem of radicalization of Muslim youths globally. Upon this basis, it becomes important to look at and promote initiatives that Muslims can undertake which represent jihad in the wider sense.

Noor Al Hussein

Queen Noor Al Hussein

The Islamic Declaration on Climate Change, endorsed in August by Islamic scholars from around the world, calls on countries to phase out greenhouse-gas emissions and switch to 100% renewable energy. With 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, the collective statement sends a strong signal ahead of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit later this month, and the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December.

Aftab H. Kola

The Prophet
(PBUH) had declared a 30 km area around his city of Madinah a protected grove,
prohibiting the cutting down of trees within its borders. He prescribed picking
up litter from the streets as an act of faith. He forbade the cutting of cedar
trees in the desert that provided shade and shelter to animals. He calls upon
us to be what God intended us to be, which is in harmony with nature. We can
sum up the importance of environment by quoting what the Prophet (PBUH)
famously said, “Even if the Day of Judgment should arrive and you are holding a
sapling in your hand, plant it”.

Prof. Henry Francis B. Espiritu, New Age Islam

The Prophet gave clear and strict orders regarding environmental sanitation. He was very concerned about the health of cattle, camels and horses as well as the cleanliness of their grazing sites. He also gave orders that mosques should be cleansed and perfumed regularly with aromatic herbs and wood resins, that the front yards and backyards of a Muslim’s house should be thoroughly cleaned, and that no one should urinate nor defecate near bodies of waters nor human waste be thrown near sources of running water (Tirmidhi, pp.64-66 and Bukhari, Kitab-ul-Wudhu, pp.103). Similarly, this statement from the Holy Prophet illustrates well the principle of sustainable land use: “If someone revives an infertile piece of land by planting trees and by farming on it.....

Jon Boone

Abdul Sattar Edhi

Unlike Edhi, Saeed uses the platform of his fast-growing charitable works to call for Jihad against India and to create a parallel state that makes a point of being first on the scene when disasters strike….

Roshan Shah, New Age Islam

“In a previous lifetime, the Buddha sacrificed his own life to feed a starving tiger and her two cubs, who were trapped in the snow. He reasoned that it would be better to save three lives than to merely preserve his own.”

“Allah does not disdain to set forth the parable even of a gnat, or anything greater than that. As for those who have Faith, they know that it is the truth from their Lord” (Quran)

“And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Bible)….

Monika Zbidi

Monika Zbidi

The Islamic eco-theology movement, which comprises Islamic ecological philosophy, Sharia-based environmental law and Islamic environmental activism, was initiated by Muslim academics and scholars, many of whom grew up in a predominantly Muslim country and later lived in – or still live in – Western countries. The confrontation with environmental problems led them to focus on the position of their own religion in the discourse…..

Sadia Dehlvi

Sadia Dehlvi

Humans have the capacity to subvert the world, far more than any other living species. We also have the capacity to uphold the physical world. Islam believes that all human souls come from a garden, and that at the end of time each soul will either enter the garden or the fire…..

Franziska Badenschier

The Quran lays down quite basic ethical principles. And these are interpreted by the prophet in the way he behaved. For example, the Quran says quite emphatically in Chapter 6, verse 141: "Allah does not love the wasters." This verse was exemplified by the Prophet when he chided one of his companions for throwing away water he had left over in his bowl after he had washed himself....

Aiman Reyaz, New Age Islam

Aiman Reyaz, New Age Islam

All these acts of public welfare have high value in Islam. The best thing we can do to save our planet is to plant trees and the Prophet (pbuh) encouraged us to do it. There are numerous verses in the Quran which says that the earth was dead and with rain He produces life therein. …